Improvement in portable folding boats



5ZS11e'ets-Seet1. `C. A. FENNER.

PORTABLE FOLDING BOATS.

` ZSheetS-ShetvZ. C. A. FENNER.

PORTABLE FOLDING BOATS.

No.176,849. Patented my 2,1876.

N.PETERS, PHOTO-UTNDGRAPNER. WASHINGYN. uv C.

, Fern CHARLES A. FENNER, OF MYSTIC RIVER, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN PORTABLE FOLDING BOATS.

.Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 176,849, dated May 2, 1876; application tiled January 6, 1876.

To altwltom it may "concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A.FENNER,

ofMystic River, county of New London, in,

the State of Connecticut, have invented an Improvement in Frames for Portable Boats, of which the following is a specification, reference being` had to the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof.

4 The object ofA my invention is to provide a frame-work tor a boat, which. may be extended to a suitable length, and retained inthat position, and be adapted to be'covered with a suitable facing lor exterior surface of rubber or other water-proof cloth, or which may be contracted into a narrow compass, and forni a box in which the external covering may be placed, folded up, andbe there confined byi a lid, andthe whole structure thus rendered conveniently portable, 4and my invention consists in the combination, with a lazy-tongs device forming the bottom and sides of the boatframe, of a set or seriesV of bars pivoted toeach other, and to the upper edge, of the lazytongs forming each sidefl of the boat, and forming, when the frame is extended, the gunwale of the boat, and acting as braces to keep the frame thus extended; together with slabs or pieces forming the ends of the boat,

to ribs set on the inner sides of which the lazy-tongs forming the sides are pivoted, and having hinged to their upper edges slabs or pieces, which form seats at either end of the boatfwhen the frame is extended, and also constitute the lid tothe box or compartment formed by the frame when contracted, as hereinafter set forth. l

In the drawings, Figure l, Sheet 1, is a plan, and Fig. 2, Sheet 2, a side elevation ex tended, and Fig. 3 a side elevation contracted, of a frame for a portable boat embodying my invention.

A is the lazy-tongs forming the bottom of the boat-frame. This I prefer to make in three sections, the section a being pivoted at b to the upper faces of the transverse bars B, and thus forming a lattice-'flooring to the boat'when the frame is extended, as shown, and the sections a Vbeing pivoted, one on either-side, to the under faces at b 0f the said bars B. C C are the lazy-tongs forming the sides of the frame, and are pivoted at c to the ends of the bars B at their lower edge, as shown, and at their ends, at d, to the ribs dfixed on the inner1 sides of the end pieces or slabs D of the frame. These end pieces D form the prow and stern of the boat, and

have hinged to their upper edges the pieces DI, which rest upon the sides of the frame when extended, and thus form seats, as shown in Figs. 1 andl 2. When the frame is contracted, as shown in Fig. 3, the lazy-tongs A and C, being folded closely together, form the bottom and ends, while the pieces D and and Dl form the sides and lid of a box or coin bars of each set, on either side ofthe boat, l

areA pivoted at their. upper ends, at f, to the upper ends of the ribs d of the pieces D, as shown. The ends of these bars are beveled oif 'or given an ogee curve, as seen at f', so that when they are extended in the position shown in Fig. 2, the ends of the adjacent bars fit into each other, and the extended bars form a right line. When the frame is extendedl these bars constitute the gunwale of the boat, and also act as braces upon either side to hold the frame rigidly in its extended position. When the frame is contracted or folded up, as seen in Fig. 3, these bars fold together on the outside of these lazy-tongs C, and act, in folding, to bring the end pieces D of the frame from their inclined position, when extended, to a perpendicular position, to form the sides of the compartment or box hereinbefore described.

l/Vhat I cla-im as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. In a frame for portable boats, the combination, with the laz'ytongs,devices A and C,

forming the bottoni and sides of the frame, of

the end pieces D having the ribs d and the constructed and arranged to operate subllinged pieces D', when constructed andarstantilly as described, audsfor. thepurpose 'ranged to operate as described, and for the specified.

purpose specified.

2. In a. frame for a portable boat, the'com CHARLES A' FENNER' bnationwth the lazy-tongs devices form- Witnesses: ing the bottom and sdes,and Vthe'end-pieces LEMUEL CLIFT',..

D, of the sets or series of pivoted bars E, AsA A. AVERY. 

